At Rusta, we take our sustainability work very seriously. As a leading player in our industry, we want to be a role model in many areas. Sustainability is among the most important.
Rusta is committed to its long-term goal of being the most sustainable brand within our sector. Rusta aims to achieve its goal by having a structured and target based approach to its sustainability work and therefore bases its sustainability strategy on four key areas of sustainability, Products, Social, Environment and Economic, where Rusta aims to create long-term improvement.
Products
Rusta offers safe, durable and fully functional products with good quality while maintaining low prices. Rusta believes that by actively working to maintain and increase quality in its product assortment by designing durable products to last longer that can also be repaired, reused and recycled as well as by decreasing the share of products returned by customers due to defects, the sustainability of its assortment and customer offering is increased. Between 2012 and 2022, the share of products returned by customers due to defects where reduced from 0.37 perecnt to 0.05 perent, a clear indicator that our sustainability and quality efforts are generating results. In addition, Rusta employs a Supplier Quality Evaluation tool to assess and rate the suppliers’ quality systems, and to motivate and encourage the suppliers to pursue further progress in their production quality efforts. Rusta’s goal is to increase the share of suppliers rated as good or higher to 65 per cent in the financial year 2023/2024.
Social
Rusta has developed a code of conduct, which incorporates the ten principles of the UN Global Compact, to assist the company in meeting its responsibilities in relation to, among other things, human rights and working conditions. The code of conduct sets out eight principles to which a Rusta supplier must adhere in order to be used as a supplier by Rusta and since 2008, all suppliers of Rusta’s private label products must annually sign the code of conduct. The eight principles are:
- critical health and safety hazards need to be prevented;
- no child labour;
- voluntary labour only;
- critical environmental hazards to be prevented;
- good business ethics shall be practiced;
- all employees must have an employment contract;
- wage equal to or exceeding the legal minimum level; and
- access to drinking water and toilets must be ensured.
In addition to these minimum requirements, Rusta’s code of conduct also contains several requirements concerning good working conditions, health and safety regulations, business ethics and environmental regulations, along with protection of animals and threatened species.
Environment
Rusta develops its products with environmental sustainability in mind and is committed to care for the planet. Rusta works together with its suppliers to continuously improve its environmental performance and the environmental performance of all potential suppliers of Rusta is screened and evaluated before the suppliers are approved to produce products for Rusta. In addition to Rusta’s non-negotiable requirement that all critical environmental hazards are eliminated or handled in a sustainable manner, Rusta rates its suppliers based on the following areas: Wastewater, electricity consumption, direct fuel consumption, waste management and emissions (non-greenhouse gases) on the scale poor, average, good and high. Through its work with its suppliers, Rusta aims to increase the share of suppliers rated at the level “good” to 45 per cent in the financial year 2023/2024.
Rusta also works to promote recycling and discloses the share of recycled materials in all of its private label products, both with respect to the products themselves and the product packaging. Between the financial year 2020/2021 and 2021/2022, Rusta increased the share of recycled materials used in the product categories Home Decoration, DIY and Leisure by approximately 25 percentage points, 45 percentage points and 15 percentage points, respectively. In addition, Rusta aims to only use raw materials that are legally harvested as well as certified and non-hazardous chemicals for its products.
Economic
By having a structured approach to its sustainability work, Rusta’s key focus areas Products, Social and Environment together pave the way for a sustainable business, which offers Rusta’s customers value for money while enabling Rusta to see past short-term profits to reach long-term sustainability objectives and to grow its business with partners and suppliers that prioritise sustainability, thus also enabling an economically sustainable business.
Read our latest sustainbility report here.